Improvement in grain-cleaners



WILLIAM HOUGI-ITON, OF GREAT GRIMSBY, ENGLAND.

IMPRVEMENT iN GRAIN-CLEANERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,455, dated Novcnibcr ll, 1373; application filed January 23, 1873.

To all whom t may concern:

' exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

The invention will first be fully described, and then pointed out in the claim.

Figure l shows a plan of the machine in section on line l l. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the machine in section on line 2 2, Fig. l.

A is the cast-iron frame-work, by which the shafts B and C of the smutter or scourer and the fan are supported in suitable` bearings at top and bottom. D D are the topand bottom frames of the scourer-cylinder keyed on shaft B. E are the blades or beaters of the scourer, iiXed at the top and bottom ends to the frames D. E is the inner cylinder of wire-cloth or perforated metal, also fixed at top and bottom to the frames D, and placed so as to form a sort of backing to the blades E, as shown, so as to prevent grain passing to the center of the scourer, while the apertures therein permit a current of air entering at the upper end of the scourer to pass through, as indicated by the arrows. The blades Ef are fixed obliquely, as shown in the plan, and also inclined or spirally, as shown in the elevation. Each blade is made of a plate of wrought-iron, curved to the proper form, so that its outer edge conforms to the circumference of the cylindrical scourer, and is equidistant' at all parts from the outer fixed cylinder F, by which the scouring of the grain is effected. The said cylinder consists of two halves formed of plates of the ordinary perforated steel clothing encircled by semicircular hoops F', connected at the opposite sides by vertical ribs or flanges 1G, by which the two halves of the cylinder are united. H is an outer casing of wood, en-

\ circling cylinder F at a suitable distance therefrom, so as to leave a passage for air, which enters through apertures H at opposite sides of the casing, which also incloses the sides and part of the end of the machine, as shown.

The action of the apparatus is as follows:

Power is applied to pulley I to rotate the scourer from any suitable prime mover, the fan-shaft G being driven by a belt from pulley I', while the separators are likewise operated by a belt from the top of shaft B. The grain is supplied to the first separator sieve or shoe J, which retains all stones or matters larger than the grain, whence it passes on to the D second separator J1, which removes loose dust and small seeds, both separators being mounted and operated'from a crank on the spindle of pulley J 2, in the ordinary manner. The grain passing over the second separator is delivered through a chute into a spout, K, whence it meets au upward current of air, which, passing through it as it falls, removes any loose snuit-balls and other light impurities before the grain enters the scourer through the chute L. ties into the upper exhaust-box M, lin which a curtain, M1, is placed, together with a damper, M2, which may be closed, more or less, as required, to cause the heavier particles to be deposited in box M, while only the very light dust is carried on to the fan. The grain being fed to the scourer is subjected to the action of the beaters, which throw it off against the steel clothing of cylinder F, whereby the adhering smut is detached, the resulting dust being carried away by the air-draft through the perforations in cylinder F to the fau by the side passages N N, Fig. l. The grain gradually passes down through the scourer to the bottom, whence it escapes by the exit O, which carries it into a second exhaust-spout, P, where as it falls it is again subjected to a current of air, whereby the remaining impurities are separated and carried upward into a second exhaust-box, Q, in which the heavier particles, consisting principally of unsound grain, are deposited, the remainder passing on to the fan. A damper, It, is provided to regulate the strength of the air-current in passage I). S is the fan by which the draft is created, the course of the several air-currents being indicated by the arrows. T is the fan-casing, and U is a horizontal division-plate placed in the mouth of the fan to keep the matters arriving from the upper part of the scourer and upper exhaust-box separate from those from the lower part of the machine, which being partly of a useful character, it is advantageous to ob- ATENT Orricn rlhe air-current carries the impuri Having described the nature of my inven-V tion7 and the manner of performing the same, I would observe that I lay no claim to the invention of spiral blades or beaters for the scourer; but

XV hat I claiin as my invention7 to be pro tected by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent7 is- The combination With the said passages, eX- haust-boXes, spouts, and fan, so arranged, of the spout V provided With valve Y7 as and for the purpose set forth.

The above specication of my invention signed by ine this 7th day of December,' 1871.

WILLIAM HOUGHTON.

rituessesz DAN. FoRsHAW,

24 Royal Echange, London. JAS. O. DEWEY,

53 Chancery Lane, Loudon. 

